Chemostat vs. Turbidostat

Chemostatnoun

(biochemistry) An apparatus for the continuous culture of microorganisms in a steady state

Chemostatverb

(chemistry) To keep the concentration of a chemical constant

Chemostat

A chemostat (from chemical environment is static) is a bioreactor to which fresh medium is continuously added, while culture liquid containing left over nutrients, metabolic end products and microorganisms are continuously removed at the same rate to keep the culture volume constant. By changing the rate with which medium is added to the bioreactor the specific growth rate of the microorganism can be easily controlled within limits.

Turbidostatnoun

A continuous microbiological culture device in which fluid is automatically added, and product removed, to maintain a constant turbidity

Turbidostat

A turbidostat is a continuous microbiological culture device, similar to a chemostat or an auxostat, which has feedback between the turbidity of the culture vessel and the dilution rate. The theoretical relationship between growth in a chemostat and growth in a turbidostat is somewhat complex, in part because they are similar.